Beyond the Tipping Point: Feedback Dynamics and the onset of Runaway Climate Change | The Imperative of ZERO

David Wasdell is possibly the foremost climate systems analyst on Earth: he tells it like it is, because he sees no reason to lie. When he talks, you listen, because failure to listen to his unique brand of unfiltered, unpoliticized, science-based analysis is failure to listen to the voice of reason.

David Wasdell delivered this copiously illustrated presentation on the 29th June 2008 to the Strategy-Planning workshop of the Tällberg Forum in the heart of Sweden. It was subsequently recorded in studio conditions and beautifully produced by the staff team of the Tällberg Foundation who also added an introduction by their Chairman, Bo Ekman.

After a basic introduction to climate dynamics, the powerful feedback system, already accelerating climate change, is analysed. It is argued that we have already passed the tipping point that marks the onset of runaway climate change, and are fast approaching the critical threshold beyond which the behaviour becomes unstoppable. The presentation concludes with an outline of the global strategy now urgently required to re-stabilise the life-support system of Planet Earth.

New scientific research, published since the video was completed, calls for a doubling of the figure used in the presentation for the strength of the water-vapour feedback. This adds 50% to the calculated power of current global heating and reinforces the conclusion that runaway climate change has already been initiated. The urgency of the imperative response to the global emergency cannot now be overstated.